Proposals on the long-term funding of adult social care in England are unlikely to be delivered before 2028 at the earliest, the government has confirmed.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting is promising "to finally grasp the nettle on social care reform", with an independent commission due to begin work in April.

But the commission, chaired by Baroness Louise Casey, is not due to publish its final report until 2028.

Councils and care providers say it is too long to wait for reform of vital services which are already on their knees.

The government also announced immediate plans to get care workers to do more health checks, and a funding boost for services to help elderly and disabled people remain in their homes.

Social care means help for older or disabled people with day-to-day tasks like washing, dressing, medication and eating.

Only those with the most complex health needs get social care provided free by the NHS, so most care is paid for by councils.

In England, only people with high needs and savings or assets of less than £23,250 are eligible for that help, leaving a growing number of people to fund themselves.

Some face paying hundreds of thousands of pounds for their care and may be forced to sell their own home as a result.

The government's ultimate aim is "a new National Care Service, able to meet the needs of older and disabled people into the 21st Century", said Streeting.

He said he had invited opposition parties to take part in the commission "to build a cross-party consensus to ensure the National Care Service survives governments of different shades, just as our NHS has for the past 76 years".

Baroness Casey - who has led several high-profile reviews, including into homelessness, the Rotherham child exploitation scandal and the Metropolitan Police - said she was pleased "to lead this vital work".

She is viewed in government as being straight-talking, with good cross-party links, and as someone who gets things done.

Even so, drawing up a plan for a National Care Service that meets the needs of an ageing population and is affordable is perhaps her biggest challenge yet.

There is agreement that the care system has been in crisis for years, struggling with growing demand, under-funding and staff shortages.

The problem has been getting political agreement on how overdue reform will be funded.

In 2010, Labour plans to fund social care were labelled a "death tax"' in that year's election, and Conservative plans were called a "dementia tax" in the 2017 election.

There have also been numerous commissions, reviews and inquiries over the past 25 years which have failed to bring change.

The 2011 Dilnot Commission plan for a cap on individual care costs came closest, making it into legislation, but was not implemented.

It was finally scrapped by the new Labour government last summer because it said the last Conservative administration had not set aside the money to fund the reform.

However, providing enough support for people in their own homes, care homes and supported living remains a pressing issue.

The care systems in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are slightly more generous, but all are facing the pressures of growing demand and squeezed finances.

"Our ageing society, with costs of care set to double in the next 20 years, demands longer-term action," said Streeting.

The government had promised a National Care Service in its manifesto, although provided little detail.

The independent commission will work with users of care services, their families, staff, politicians and the public to recommend how best to build a care service to meet current and future needs.

"Millions of older people, disabled people, their families and carers rely upon an effective adult social care system to live their lives to the full with independence and dignity," said Baroness Casey.

"An independent commission is an opportunity to start a national conversation, find the solutions and build consensus on a long-term plan to fix the system."

The commission will report to the prime minister and its work will be split into two phases.

Phase one will identify critical issues and recommend medium-term improvements. This will report by mid-2026.

Phase two will look at how to organise care services and fund them for the future. This report is not due until 2028 - a year before the next election.

The King's Fund independent health think-tank urged the government to "accelerate the timing".

"The current timetable to report by 2028 is far too long to wait for people who need social care, and their families," said its chief executive, Sarah Woolnough.

Councils, which are under huge financial pressure, pay for care services for most people.

Melanie Williams, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, agreed that the "timescales are too long".

She believes much of the evidence and options on how to reform adult social care are already known and worries that "continuing to tread water until a commission concludes will be at the detriment of people's health and well-being".

About 835,000 people received publicly funded care in 2022, according to the King's Fund. The charity Age UK estimates there are about two million people in England who have unmet care needs - and according to workforce organisation Skills for Care, while 1.59 million people work in adult social care in England, there are currently 131,000 vacancies.

Helen Walker, the head of Carers UK, which represents millions of unpaid people who provide care to family members, said families were "under intense pressure and providing more care than ever before"

When older or disabled people are unable to get the help they need in the community they are more likely to end up in hospital, or get stuck on a ward when they are ready to leave.

Amanda Pritchard, NHS England chief executive, said: "We hope this vital action plan and commitment to create a National Care Service will both help better support people and ease pressure on hospital wards."

The government also confirmed an extra £86m would be spent before the end of the financial year in April to help thousands more elderly and disabled people to remain in their homes.

The money is on top of a similar sum announced in the Budget for the next financial year.

Overall, it should allow 7,800 disabled and elderly people to make vital improvements to their homes which should increase their independence and reduce hospitalisations, says the government.

Other changes include:

• better career pathways for care workers
• better use of technology and new national standards to support elderly people to live at home for longer
• up-skilling care workers to deliver basic checks such as blood pressure monitoring
• a new digital platform to share medical information between NHS and care staff.

Temperatures fell to nearly -8C overnight as an Arctic blast hits the UK, with warnings that snow could bring "significant disruption" this weekend.

Amber cold weather health alerts warning of a risk of a rise in deaths are in place for the whole of England, with one local NHS service urging people to avoid going out early in the morning when the frost is thick.

Yellow weather warnings for snow and ice are in place for most of England, Wales and Scotland between Saturday and Monday.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting told BBC Breakfast "it is definitely a weekend to turn the heating on", after charity Age UK said the weather would bring the winter fuel payment cuts "into sharp relief".

Benson in Oxfordshire recorded the UK's lowest temperature of -7.9C overnight, with much of the UK seeing cold and frosty conditions on Friday morning.

Elsewhere, temperatures dropped to -7.5C in Shap, Cumbria, and -6.4C in Eskdalemuir, Dumfries and Galloway, earlier on Thursday night.

In Wales, the lowest temperature was -4.9C in Usk, while in Northern Ireland, it was -5.7C in Katesbridge.

Yellow Met Office warnings for ice are in force until 10:00 GMT on Friday in west Wales, north-west England and parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland, with wintry showers at times throughout the day.

Snow showers will continue in north-east Scotland bringing accumulations of up to 10cm over high ground during Friday too.

• How to keep babies warm during cold weather and other winter tips
• How to drive in snow and icy weather
• How do cold weather health alerts work?

BBC weather presenter Sarah Keith-Lucas said 20-40cm of snow could fall across northern England and southern Scotland from late Saturday into Monday, which could cause "significant disruption".

She said temperatures in towns and cities across the UK were expected to fall below freezing overnight on Friday into Saturday morning, with "significantly colder" conditions in rural areas. There could be some freezing fog patches in the Midlands and East Anglia, she added.

On Saturday evening, snow is forecast in parts of southern England, Wales, the Midlands in England and Northern Ireland.

On Sunday morning, snow is expected in parts of northern England, Northern Ireland and southern Scotland especially over higher ground where the snow is expected to be quite disruptive.

Later on Sunday, temperatures are expected to be milder in parts of the country, reaching 13C in London in contrast to Aberdeen where it could be just 2C.

The weather warnings include:

• A yellow warning for snow and ice in north-east Scotland, including the Orkney and Shetland Islands, until 10:00 GMT on Friday
• A yellow warning for ice is in place across north-west England, western Scotland and part of Northern Ireland until 10:00 on Friday
• Western Wales is also covered by a yellow ice warning until 10:00 on Friday.
• On Saturday from noon until midnight, a yellow warning for snow and ice is in place covering all of England apart from the south-west, and the whole of Wales
• A separate yellow warning for snow covers most of Scotland, except the far north, from midnight on Sunday until 12:00 GMT on Monday

The amber cold health alerts cover the whole of England but are not in place for the rest of the UK.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) issues the alerts when temperatures are likely to affect people's wellbeing, in particular those who are elderly or have health conditions.

The alerts provide early warning to healthcare providers, and suggest actions such as actively monitoring individuals at high risk, and checking that people most vulnerable to cold-related illnesses have visitor or phone call arrangements in place.

Local NHS services have been issuing tips to residents, with NHS Black Country's integrated care board telling people to "avoid going out early when the frost is thick or late at night when it's dark".

Age UK's director Caroline Abrahams said on Thursday that the cold weather would bring the government's decision to limit winter fuel payments "into sharp relief", and added the charity had already been contacted by people "worrying about what to do".

She urged older people "to do everything they can to stay warm" including risking spending more on their heating. Ms Abrahams added energy companies had "an obligation to help" those struggling and there may be support from local councils too.

The prime minister previously said it was important to protect pensioners who most needed the allowance, but many did not need it because they were "relatively wealthy". The cut aims to save £1.5bn a year.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said on Thursday that no fresh postcodes had been triggered for cold weather payments.

Payments of £25 are made to eligible households when an area's average temperature has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0C or below for seven consecutive days.

You can keep up to date with BBC Weather forecasts online and on the app.

Former deputy prime minister Sir Nick Clegg is to step down from his current job as president of global affairs at social media giant Meta.

In a post on Meta's Facebook on Thursday, Sir Nick, a former leader of the Liberal Democrats, said he was departing the company after nearly seven years.

He will be replaced by his current deputy and Republican Joe Kaplan, who previously served as deputy chief of staff in the White House during President George W Bush's administration, and is known for handling the company's relations with Republicans.

He added that he would spend "a few months handing over the reins" and representing Facebook at international gatherings before moving on to "new adventures".

Sir Nick's resignation comes just weeks before Donald Trump returns to the White House.

The president-elect has repeatedly accused Meta and other platforms of censorship and silencing conservative speech.

His relations with Mr Zuckerberg have been particularly strained, after Facebook and Instagram suspended the former president's accounts for two years in 2021, after they said he praised those engaged in violence at the Capitol on 6 January.

More recently, Trump threatened to imprison Mr Zuckerberg if he interfered in the 2024 election, and even called Facebook an "enemy of the people" in March.

However tensions appear to be thawing between the two, with the pair dining at Trump's Florida estate in Mar-a-Lago since the US election.

Mr Zuckerberg also congratulated him on his victory and donated $1m (£786,000) to an inauguration fund.

Sir Nick's departure is seen by some analysts as a nod to the changing of the guard in Washington.

He joined Facebook in 2018, after losing his seat as an MP in 2017. He was later promoted to president of global affairs, a prominent position at Meta.

He was instrumental in launching Meta's oversight board, a panel of experts that makes decisions and advises Mr Zuckerberg on policies around content moderation, privacy, and other issues.

Sir Nick has been open about his views on Trump's close ally, Elon Musk, describing him as a political puppet master, claiming he has turned X, formerly Twitter, into a "one-man hyper-partisan hobby horse".

The former Liberal Democrat leader moved to Silicon Valley initially but returned to London in 2022.

In his statement, he said he was moving on to "new adventures" with "immense gratitude and pride" at what he had been part of.

He said: "My time at the company coincided with a significant resetting of the relationship between 'big tech' and the societal pressures manifested in new laws, institutions and norms affecting the sector.

"I hope I have played some role in seeking to bridge the very different worlds of tech and politics – worlds that will continue to interact in unpredictable ways across the globe."

He added: "I am simply thrilled that my deputy, Joel Kaplan, will now become Meta's chief global affairs officer…He is quite clearly the right person for the right job at the right time!"

A day of high drama has drawn to an end in South Korea, with investigators suspending an attempt to arrest ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol after a six-hour standoff with the security team outside his home.

"We've determined that the arrest is impossible," said the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), which has been investigating Yoon's short-lived martial law declaration.

"Next steps will be decided after review," the CIO said, adding that Yoon's "refusal of the legal process" is "deeply regrettable".

Yoon's supporters, who have been camped out in front of the presidential residence for days, cheered in song and dance as the suspension was announced. "We won," they chanted.

Investigators have until 6 January to arrest Yoon, before the warrant expires. However they can apply for a new warrant and try to detain him again.

A US court has rejected the Biden administration's bid to restore "net neutrality" rules, finding that the federal government does not have the authority to regulate internet providers like utilities.

It marks a major defeat for so-called open internet advocates, who have long fought for protections that would require internet providers such as AT&T to treat all legal content equally.

Such rules were first introduced by the Federal Communications Commission under former Democratic president Barack Obama but later repealed during Republican Donald Trump's first term.

The decision, just as Trump is poised to enter the White House for a second term, likely puts an end to the long-running legal battle over the issue.

In their decision, the judges noted that different administrations have gone back and forth on the issue.

But they said the court no longer had to give "deference" to the FCC's reading of the law, pointing to a recent Supreme Court decision that limits the authority of federal agencies to interpret laws, a decision that critics expect will be used to weaken regulation in the years ahead.

"Applying Loper Bright, means we can end the FCC's vacillations," the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals said.

Brendan Carr, a Republican member of the FCC who Trump has tapped to lead the agency, said he was pleased the court had invalidated the Biden administration's "Internet power grab".

The FCC's outgoing Democratic commissioner said the ruling turned the issue over to Congress.

"Consumers across the country have told us again and again that they want an internet that is fast, open, and fair," Jessica Rosenworcel said.

"With this decision it is clear that Congress now needs to heed their call, take up the charge for net neutrality, and put open internet principles in federal law."

The fight over net neutrality was once a heated issue in the US, pitting internet providers against big tech companies such as Google and Netflix.

Comedian John Oliver famously urged his audience to express support for the rules, leading to a deluge of comments that crashed the government's site.

But the issue has faded in prominence since the rules were repealed in 2018.

Thursday's ruling does not affect state-level net neutrality laws, which in some places offer similar protections.

But advocates, like Mr Oliver, have said that national rules are important to preventing internet providers from having powers to throttle certain content or charge more for speedy delivery of their service.

Public Knowledge, a progressive-leaning internet policy group, said the decision had weakened the FCC's power to shape privacy protections, implement public safety measures and take other action.

It said it believed the court had erred in ruling that internet service providers were simply offering an "information service" rather than acting as telecommunications companies.

"The court has created a dangerous regulatory gap that leaves consumers vulnerable and gives broadband providers unchecked power over Americans' internet access," it said.

But USTelecom, an industry group whose members include AT&T and Verizon, said the decision was "a victory for American consumers that will lead to more investment, innovation, and competition in the dynamic digital marketplace."

Security posts known as bollards were not in place before a suspect drove a truck into a crowd in the French Quarter of New Orleans early on New Year's Day, killing 14 and injuring at least 35.

Louisiana officials have said the street barriers were malfunctioning and were undergoing renovations before the city hosts the NFL Super Bowl on 9 February.

The short and sturdy posts - made of concrete, metal or other materials - are meant to block cars from entering pedestrian areas.

Christopher Raia, a deputy assistant director with the FBI, on Thursday called the attack an act of terrorism.

During the early morning hours on New Year's Day, a police vehicle was parked at an intersection to block access to Bourbon Street in the French Quarter, where the attack took place, but the suspect drove around the car and onto the sidewalk, police said.

Police have named Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old Texas resident and US Army veteran, as the suspect. He died in the attack.

New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said on Wednesday that police had been "aware of the bollard situation" and took steps to "harden those target areas".

"We did indeed have a plan, but the terrorist defeated it," she said.

Ms Kirkpatrick said the city planned to take a number of steps to increase security at the Sugar Bowl American football game, which was moved from Wednesday to Thursday afternoon because of the attack.

Bourbon Street will be re-opened on Thursday shortly ahead of the game.

"We have re-enforced the area," Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said on Thursday.

• Follow live updates on the attack here

New Orleans began placing bollards on Bourbon Street over ten years ago, Mayor LaToya Cantrell said on Wednesday.

But, she added, the bollards began to malfunction because of clogs from Mardi Gras beads, leading officials to try to replace them before the Super Bowl, which is scheduled to take place at the Caesars Superdome, near the site of the attack.

At the news conference, Ms Kirkpatrick defended the other security measures the city had in place.

"We did have a car there, we had barriers there, we had officers there, and they still got around," she said.

A number of cities in the US and around the world have installed bollards to prevent attacks.

New York City put the security measures in place along the Hudson River Park bike path after a man drove a rented pick-up truck into cyclists and runners along the path, killing eight people, in 2017.

It's too difficult to say for certain whether the New Orleans bollards being in place would have prevented such an incident, said University of Michigan professor and counterterrorism expert Javed Ali.

"He had a Ford 150 pick-up truck. You gun that thing at 50, 60 miles an hour, and who knows, even with bollards in place, would the car just - through physics - have rammed through them anyways?" he said.

"There must have been a lot of luck involved," Mr Ali added. "That's unfortunately what happens in these types of attacks."

A 2017 report commissioned by the city of New Orleans found the French Quarter was a "risk and target area for terrorism that the FBI has identified as a concern that the city must address".

The report noted that the neighbourhood was "often densely packed with pedestrians and represents an area where a mass casualty incident could occur".

Fans from two US universities filled a stadium in New Orleans for a highly anticipated American football game as the city reels from a New Year's Day attack.

The annual Sugar Bowl, which was scheduled to take place Wednesday, was postponed to Thursday at 15:00 local time (21:00 GMT) after a Texas man drove through a crowded New Orleans street, killing 14 people.

People gathered in the stadium partook in a moment of silence to remember the victims of Wednesday's attack.

The game brought thousands of fans to the city to see the University of Notre Dame take on the University of Georgia at the 70,000-seat Caesars Superdome.

Notre Dame's "Fighting Irish" ultimately emerged the winner, beating the Georgia Bulldogs 23-10.

Ahead of the game's start, Bourbon Street - where the attack took place on Wednesday - reopened to the public for the first time since the deadly event.

Yellow barriers, designed to prevent cars from driving onto the pavement, lined both sides of the street.

Fourteen flowers were laid against a wall at the spot where the attacker first drove into a crowd.

Many who trickled in had come to have a few drinks before heading over to the stadium for the game, with almost everyone wearing red for Georgia, and green or blue and gold for Notre Dame.

• Get live updates on this story

As the street reopened, a fan of the Notre Dame college football team yelled: "Go fighting Irish! We love life! So let's live!"

A New Orleans man who was discharged from the hospital on Thursday afternoon after being caught up in the attack, headed straight back to Bourbon Street dressed in the same clothes he was wearing on 1 January.

Speaking to the BBC, Jovon Miguel Bell lifted his shirt to show cuts and bruises across his torso, which he said were the result of getting trampled.

"I'm blessed, to be honest. God is good," he said. "Blessings to the victims and their families."

Mr Bell admitted he was "drunk as hell" at the time of the attack, but does vaguely remember what landed him in hospital.

"I'm walking down the street and I hear the screams. Ruckus. Chaos," he said. "As soon as I turn around, I got hit [by a person] and fall to the ground. I got stepped on, multiple times."

Now free from hospital, he headed straight back to the bars of Bourbon Street as the Sugar Bowl game was ongoing, where he said he felt lucky he escaped with minor injuries.

Ahead of the game, state authorities assured the public that the city had taken additional safety precautions.

Brian Williams, a Georgia supporter, told the BBC that "the bad guys would have won" if the game had been cancelled or further postponed after the attack.

"Nowhere will be safer than New Orleans now," he said, as he gestured at a small group of state troopers on Bourbon Street. "There's nothing to worry about."

Like other football fans in town for the game, Mr Williams said the mood was sombre when he arrived in town early Wednesday.

"It felt off. It felt weird to be out in town, and we couldn't even get to Bourbon Street," Mr Williams said. "But this place will be back to normal soon."

Master P, a New Orleans native and rap singer whose full name is Percy Robert Miller, visited Bourbon Street on Thursday to reassure local resident he would do whatever he could to help the city recover.

"We've got to show the people we're not stopping. We are going to move on," he said. "Even this evil stuff that came against us is not going to stop us."

Mr Miller described the city as one where people come to "celebrate" and described it as "our culture".

Jefferson County Sheriff Joseph Lopinto told reporters Thursday the college football match would be secure for fans who have come to the city.

"It's probably going to be one of the safest places in the country," Mr Lopinto said. "If my kid wanted to come to the game, I'd have no problem."

As the sun set over Bourbon Street on Thursday, many locals said they were confident that the vibrant area would bounce back quickly after the attack.

Among them was Darnell Simmons, a 23-year-old member of a brass band playing at the Bourbon House Oyster bar.

"A terrible thing happened here," he said. "But we're back, we're here to remember those we lost."

The bar's owner, Dickie Brennan, said he felt "incredibly emotional" to hear music return to Bourbon Street.

"We overcame Katrina. God knows how many hurricanes, oil spills, crime," he added, referring to the 2005 hurricane that left more than 1,300 dead. "One guy will not stop this beautiful city and special neighbourhood."

"This city is resilient. We have to be."

Just after 3:00 local time on 1 January officials say 42-year-old army veteran, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, killed 14 people and wounded dozens more when he drove a pick-up truck into crowds for the New Years holiday.

Before Jabbar was killed in a shoot-out with police during the attack, he had proclaimed his allegiance to the Islamic State group in videos uploaded to social media, according to the FBI.

The Sugar Bowl is watched by millions of Americans every year, traditionally on New Year's Day.

The game, along with the Los Angeles Rose Bowl, is a big tourist draw for the city.

The Sugar Bowl dates back to 1935, playing host to many of the best coaches, players and teams in college football history.

The Super Bowl, America's biggest sporting event, is scheduled for 9 February at the same New Orleans venue as the Sugar Bowl.

Additional reporting from the BBC's Anna Adams.

Heavy snow blends into white thick clouds in Skellefteå, a riverside city in northern Sweden that is home to 78,000 residents.

It's also the location of what was supposed to become Europe's biggest and greenest electric battery factory, powered by the region's abundance of renewable energy.

Swedish start-up Northvolt opened its flagship production plant here in 2022, after signing multi-billion euro contracts with carmakers including BMV, Volkswagen and Nordic truck manufacturer Scania.

But it ran into major financial troubles last year, reporting debts of $5.8bn (£4.6bn) in November, and filing for bankruptcy in the US, where it had been hoping to expand its operations.

Since September it's laid off around a quarter of its global workforce including more than 1,000 staff in Skellefteå.

"A lot of people have moved out already," says 43-year-old Ghanaian Justice Dey-Seshie, who relocated to Skellefteå for a job at Northvolt, after previously studying and working in southern Sweden.

"I need to secure a job in order to extend my work permit. Otherwise, I have to exit the country, sadly."

Many researchers and journalists tracking Northvolt's downfall share the view that it was at least partly caused by a global dip in demand for electric vehicles (EVs).

In September Volvo abandoned its target to only produce EVs by 2030, arguing that "customers and markets are moving at different speeds". Meanwhile China, the market leader in electric batteries, has been able to undercut Northvolt's prices.

Missing production targets (a key factor in BMW pulling out of a €2bn deal in June), expanding too quickly, and the company's leadership have also been widely cited as factors fuelling the crisis.

"To build batteries is a very complex process. It takes a lot of capital, it takes time, and they obviously just didn't have the right personnel running the company," argues Andreas Cervenka, a business author and economics commentator for Swedish daily Aftonbladet.

At Umeå university, Madeleine Eriksson, a geographer researching the impact of so-called "green industries" says Northvolt presented a "save the world mentality" that impressed investors, media and local politicians.

But this "now-or-never" approach, she argues, glossed over the fact it was a risk-taking start-up that "never finished attracting investment".

Northvolt did not respond to multiple requests from the BBC to respond to comments about its downfall or future plans.

The firm has hired German Marcus Dangelmaier, from global electronics company TE Connectivity to run Northvolt's operations in Skellefeå, from January, as it seeks to attract fresh investment.

Northvolt's co-founder and CEO Peter Carlsson – a former Tesla executive – resigned in November.

• Listen Business Daily: Crisis at Northvolt

As the postmortem into the crisis continues, there are debates about the potential impact on Sweden's green ambitions.

Northern Sweden, dubbed the "Nordic Silicon Valley of sustainability" by consultancy firm McKinsey, has swiftly gained global reputation for new industries designed to fast-track Europe's green transition.

The region is a hub for biotech and renewable energy. Alongside Northvolt, high profile companies include Stegra (formerly called H2 Green Steel) and Hybrit, which are both developing fossil-free fuel using hydrogen.

But Mr Cervenka, the economics commentator, argues Northvolt's downfall has damaged Sweden's "very good brand" when it comes to green technologies.

"There was a huge opportunity to build this champion, and to build this Swedish icon, but I think investors that lost money are going to be hesitant to invest again in a similar project in the north of Sweden," he says.

Some local businesses say the publicity around Northvolt's crisis is already having a negative impact.

"I feel it myself when I travel now – even to the southern parts of Sweden – and abroad, that people really ask me questions," says Joakim Nordin, CEO of Skellefteå Kraft, a major hydropower and wind energy provider, which was an early investor in Northvolt.

Headquartered in Malmö in southern Sweden, Cleantech for Nordics is an organisation that represents a coalition of 15 major investors in sustainability-focussed start-ups.

Here, climate policy analyst Eva Andersson believes the nation's long legacy as an environmental champion will remain relevant.

"I think it would be presumptuous to say that, okay, now we are doomed here in the Nordics because one company has failed," she argues.

Cleantech for Nordics' research suggests there were more than 200 investments in clean tech projects in Sweden in 2023.

Another study by Dealroom, which gathers data on start-ups indicates 74% of all venture capital funding to Swedish start-ups went to so-called impact companies which prioritise environmental or social sustainability, compared to a European average of just 35%.

"Sweden is still punching above its weight in this sector. And I think we could expect it to continue to do so moving forward as well," predicts Anderson.

There are growing calls for increased state support to help Sweden maintain its position. The Swedish government refused to bail out Northvolt, suggesting all startups – sustainable or not – should be subject to market forces rather than bailed out by taxpayers. But as other parts of the world ramp up battery production and other carbon-cutting industries, the decision has faced a backlash.

"The US and China have massive support packages for green industry, and they definitely are catching up and overtaking in some sectors. And so that is definitely a threat to be reckoned with," argues Andersson.

Just 3% of global battery cell production currently takes place in Europe - according to research for international consultancy firm McKinsey - with Asian firms leading the market.

Sweden's minister for Energy, Business and Industry Ebba Busch argues more EU support rather than funding from individual governments is the answer.

Last month she told Swedish television the situation at Northvolt was "not a Swedish crisis", rather a reflection of a Europe-wide challenge when it comes to competitiveness in the electric battery sector.

But while the government insists it wants Sweden to play a key role in Europe's battery industry, and the wider green transition, it has been accused of sending mixed messages. The right-wing coalition, which came into power in 2022 has cut taxes on petrol and diesel, and abolished subsidies for EVs.

"This is a very politically sensitive area," says journalist Cervenka. "The Swedish government is being actually criticised internationally for not fulfilling its climate obligations. And that is a stark contrast to the image of Sweden as a pioneer."

The BBC approached Busch's media team, but was not granted an interview.

Back in Skellefteå, where it has been dark since just after lunch, Joachim Nordin is preparing to commute home in the snow.

He says there's a strong industrial will for Sweden to remain a green tech role model, despite policymakers being "not as ambitious" as previous administrations.

The criteria that enticed Northvolt to establish its first factory in Skellefteå will also attract other big global players to the region, according to the energy company CEO.

"It's 100% almost renewable energy up here… and that's that's pretty unique if you compare it to the rest of Europe. But on top of that we are among the cheapest places in the world for the electricity prices. So if you combine those two things, it's a huge opportunity."

Skellefeå Kraft recently announced a collaboration with Dutch fuel company Sky NRG. Their ambition is to open a large factory by 2030, making fossil-free plane fuel (produced using hydrogen combined with carbon dioxide captured from biogenic sources).

"The publicity around Northvolt is not helping now, of course. But I hope that that's just something that will be remembered as a little bump in the road, when we look back at this 10 years from now," says Mr Nordin.

Proposals on the long-term funding of adult social care in England are unlikely to be delivered before 2028 at the earliest, the government has confirmed.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting is promising "to finally grasp the nettle on social care reform", with an independent commission due to begin work in April.

But the commission, chaired by Baroness Louise Casey, is not due to publish its final report until 2028.

Councils and care providers say it is too long to wait for reform of vital services which are already on their knees.

The government also announced immediate plans to get care workers to do more health checks, and a funding boost for services to help elderly and disabled people remain in their homes.

Social care means help for older or disabled people with day-to-day tasks like washing, dressing, medication and eating.

Only those with the most complex health needs get social care provided free by the NHS, so most care is paid for by councils.

In England, only people with high needs and savings or assets of less than £23,250 are eligible for that help, leaving a growing number of people to fund themselves.

Some face paying hundreds of thousands of pounds for their care and may be forced to sell their own home as a result.

The government's ultimate aim is "a new National Care Service, able to meet the needs of older and disabled people into the 21st Century", said Streeting.

He said he had invited opposition parties to take part in the commission "to build a cross-party consensus to ensure the National Care Service survives governments of different shades, just as our NHS has for the past 76 years".

Baroness Casey - who has led several high-profile reviews, including into homelessness, the Rotherham child exploitation scandal and the Metropolitan Police - said she was pleased "to lead this vital work".

She is viewed in government as being straight-talking, with good cross-party links, and as someone who gets things done.

Even so, drawing up a plan for a National Care Service that meets the needs of an ageing population and is affordable is perhaps her biggest challenge yet.

There is agreement that the care system has been in crisis for years, struggling with growing demand, under-funding and staff shortages.

The problem has been getting political agreement on how overdue reform will be funded.

In 2010, Labour plans to fund social care were labelled a "death tax"' in that year's election, and Conservative plans were called a "dementia tax" in the 2017 election.

There have also been numerous commissions, reviews and inquiries over the past 25 years which have failed to bring change.

The 2011 Dilnot Commission plan for a cap on individual care costs came closest, making it into legislation, but was not implemented.

It was finally scrapped by the new Labour government last summer because it said the last Conservative administration had not set aside the money to fund the reform.

However, providing enough support for people in their own homes, care homes and supported living remains a pressing issue.

The care systems in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are slightly more generous, but all are facing the pressures of growing demand and squeezed finances.

"Our ageing society, with costs of care set to double in the next 20 years, demands longer-term action," said Streeting.

The government had promised a National Care Service in its manifesto, although provided little detail.

The independent commission will work with users of care services, their families, staff, politicians and the public to recommend how best to build a care service to meet current and future needs.

"Millions of older people, disabled people, their families and carers rely upon an effective adult social care system to live their lives to the full with independence and dignity," said Baroness Casey.

"An independent commission is an opportunity to start a national conversation, find the solutions and build consensus on a long-term plan to fix the system."

The commission will report to the prime minister and its work will be split into two phases.

Phase one will identify critical issues and recommend medium-term improvements. This will report by mid-2026.

Phase two will look at how to organise care services and fund them for the future. This report is not due until 2028 - a year before the next election.

The King's Fund independent health think-tank urged the government to "accelerate the timing".

"The current timetable to report by 2028 is far too long to wait for people who need social care, and their families," said its chief executive, Sarah Woolnough.

Councils, which are under huge financial pressure, pay for care services for most people.

Melanie Williams, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, agreed that the "timescales are too long".

She believes much of the evidence and options on how to reform adult social care are already known and worries that "continuing to tread water until a commission concludes will be at the detriment of people's health and well-being".

About 835,000 people received publicly funded care in 2022, according to the King's Fund. The charity Age UK estimates there are about two million people in England who have unmet care needs - and according to workforce organisation Skills for Care, while 1.59 million people work in adult social care in England, there are currently 131,000 vacancies.

Helen Walker, the head of Carers UK, which represents millions of unpaid people who provide care to family members, said families were "under intense pressure and providing more care than ever before"

When older or disabled people are unable to get the help they need in the community they are more likely to end up in hospital, or get stuck on a ward when they are ready to leave.

Amanda Pritchard, NHS England chief executive, said: "We hope this vital action plan and commitment to create a National Care Service will both help better support people and ease pressure on hospital wards."

The government also confirmed an extra £86m would be spent before the end of the financial year in April to help thousands more elderly and disabled people to remain in their homes.

The money is on top of a similar sum announced in the Budget for the next financial year.

Overall, it should allow 7,800 disabled and elderly people to make vital improvements to their homes which should increase their independence and reduce hospitalisations, says the government.

Other changes include:

• better career pathways for care workers
• better use of technology and new national standards to support elderly people to live at home for longer
• up-skilling care workers to deliver basic checks such as blood pressure monitoring
• a new digital platform to share medical information between NHS and care staff.

Just hours before the clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve, Jack Bech got on a phone call with his older brother Martin - an avid outdoorsman and former football star mostly known to friends and teammates as "Tiger".

Jack, 22, was in Dallas visiting family members, while Tiger, a 28-year-old former Princeton alumnus who lived in New York, was in New Orleans, getting ready to celebrate the New Year.

"We just thought it was going to be another conversation," he told the BBC. "I was showing him what we were eating, and he was showing us what he was eating."

The two brothers would never speak again.

"I hung up the phone, and that was the last time I ever spoke with him," Jack recalled.

Tiger was among the 14 people killed when an attacker ploughed through a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

• The rev of an engine and then screams - how revelry turned to mayhem in New Orleans
• Fans flock to Sugar Bowl in New Orleans after deadly New Year's attack

The attacker, 42-year-old army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was killed in a gunfight with police after he drove a pick-up truck into the crowds, according to authorities. Though he posted videos online proclaiming allegiance to the Islamic State group before the attack, FBI officials said they believe he was acting alone.

While the identities of all the victims have not been made public yet, a picture is slowly emerging of a group of mostly young people, many of whom - like Tiger - were Louisiana locals.

Jack - who remembers his brother as his best friend, role model and inspiration - says that the close-knit Bech family will never be the same.

Most of the family is in the town of Lafayette, about 136 miles (218km) away from New Orleans.

"This is something we're going to have to deal with. Every time we wake up, and every time we go to sleep, it's going to be something," he added. "Every holiday, there's going to be an empty seat at the table."

But Tiger said that his brother "wouldn't want us to grieve and mourn". Instead, he has encouraged his family to remember him as "a fighter".

"He'd want us to keep attacking life...he'd want us to go and be there for each other," he said.

"I told my family that instead of seeing him a couple of times a year, he'll be with us every moment," Jack added. "Whenever we're waking up and we're going to sleep and we're walking, when we're at work, doing whatever, he'll be with us."

Among the other victims of the attack in the early morning hours of 1 January was Matthew Tenedorio, an audio-visual technician at New Orleans' Caesars' Superdome.

Tenedorio, who just turned 25 in October, had spent the earlier part of his evening at his brother's home in the town of Slidell, about 35 minutes away from New Orleans.

With him were his father and mother - who just recently recovered from cancer.

His cousin, Christina Bounds, told the BBC that his family "begged" him not to go into New Orleans, fearful of the large crowd and potential dangers.

Despite their pleas, he went, along with two friends. When the news broke, his mother eventually got a hold of one of them.

"They said they were walking down Bourbon, and saw a body fall," she said, noting that they now believe it was a body thrown into the air by the attacker's truck.

Amid screams and gunshots, Tenedorio was separated from his friends.

His family says he was shot, and believe he was killed during the exchange of gunfire between the attacker and police officers on Bourbon Street.

The BBC is unable to independently verify this claim.

According to Ms Bounds, the family's tragedy has been made more painful by the slow, nearly non-existent trickle of communications they've had with local authorities.

"We couldn't get any information when my aunt [Tenedorio's mother, Cathy] showed up at the hospital," she said. "There has been no information from doctors, hospitals, or cops. Nobody."

"They have zero information, and that's the part that's pissing everybody off. We don't even know what happened," Bounds added. "Was he carried out by the EMS? Was he in an ambulance? Did he die instantly?"

These answers, she added, would "help people accept" what happened.

"But now it's like total shock," she added. "It's not registering."

The family has started a GoFundMe page to gather funds for Tenedorio's funeral expenses - which Ms Bounds said have been made difficult by his mother's significant medical bills during her cancer diagnosis.

Another cousin of Tenedorio's, Zach Colgan, remembers him as a "goofball" who was quick to make a joke, cared deeply about animals and was an avid storyteller.

"He cared. He was definitely a people person. A happy-go-lucky guy," Mr Colgan told the BBC. "It's sad that a terrorist attack took him...no family should ever have to bury their son, especially for something so senseless."

Mr Colgan, who has experience working with law enforcement in Louisiana, says he believes officers have done the best they can in an extremely hectic casualty situation.

"I know it's chaotic. But part of closure is getting answers. I know my aunt and uncle weren't able to get much besides 'yes - Matthew was killed'," he said.

"It'd be nice to know a little bit more," Mr Colgan added. ""If it was my kid, I'd want to know."

Even as his family continues to search for answers, Mr Colgan says he hopes that the government and public's focus continues to be on the victims, rather than on law enforcement's response or what else could have been done to prevent the attack.

"I want every single one of them to be remembered," he said. "They didn't deserve this. No one deserves this."

It's dawn on Darwin Harbour and government ranger Kelly Ewin - whose job is to catch and remove crocodiles - is balancing precariously on a floating trap.

Heavy rain clouds from the storm that has recently passed are overhead. The engine of the boat has been cut so now it's mostly silent – that is, apart from the intermittent splashing coming from inside the trap.

"You get pretty much zero chances with these guys," says Ewin as he attempts to loop a noose around the jaw of the agitated reptile.

We're in Australia's Northern Territory (NT), home to an estimated 100,000 wild saltwater crocodiles, more than anywhere in the world.

The capital, Darwin, is a small coastal city surrounded by beaches and wetlands.

And, as you quickly learn here in the NT, where there is water, there usually are crocs.

Saltwater crocs - or salties, as they are known to locals - were nearly hunted to extinction 50 years ago.

After World War Two, the uncontrolled trade in their skins soared and numbers fell to around 3,000.

But when hunting was banned in 1971, the population started rising again - and fast.

They still are a protected species, but are no longer threatened.

The recovery of the saltwater crocodile has been so dramatic that Australia now faces a different dilemma: managing their numbers to keep people safe and the public onside.

"The worst thing that can happen is when people turn [against crocodiles]," explains croc expert Prof Grahame Webb.

"And then a politician will invariably come along with some knee-jerk reaction [that] they're going to 'solve' the crocodile problem."

Living with predators

The NT's hot temperatures and abundant coastal surroundings create the perfect habitat for cold-blooded crocs, who need warmth to keep their body temperature constant.

There also are big saltie populations in Northern Queensland and Western Australia as well as in parts of South East Asia.

While most species of crocodile are harmless, the saltie is territorial and aggressive.

Fatal incidents are rare in Australia, but they do happen.

Last year, a 12-year-old was taken - the first death from a crocodile in the NT since 2018.

This is busiest time of year for Ewin and his colleagues.

Breeding season has just started, which means salties are on the move.

His team are on the water several times a week, checking the 24 crocodile traps surrounding the city of Darwin.

The area is popular for fishing, as well as for some brave swimmers.

The crocodiles that are removed from the harbour are most often killed, because if they are released elsewhere, they're likely to return to the harbour.

"It's our job to try and keep people as safe as we can," says Ewin, who's been doing his "dream job" for two years. Before that, he was a policeman.

"Obviously, we're not going to capture every crocodile, but the more we take out of the harbour, the less risk there's going to be an encounter with crocodiles and people."

Another tool helping to keep the public safe is education.

The NT government goes into schools with its programme "Be Crocwise" - which teaches people how to behave responsibly around croc habitats.

It's been such a success that Florida and the Philippines are now looking to borrow it, in order to better understand how the world's most dangerous predators can live alongside humans with minimal interactions.

"We're living in crocodile country, so it's about how we [keep ourselves] safe around the waterways - how should we be responding?" says Natasha Hoffman, a ranger who runs the programme in the NT.

"If you're on the boats when you're fishing, you need to be aware that they're there. They're ambush hunters, they sit, watch and wait. If the opportunity is there for them to grab some food, that's what they're going to do."

In the NT, mass culling is currently not on the table given the protected status of the species.

Last year though, the government approved a new 10-year crocodile management plan to help control the numbers, which increased the quota of crocs that can be killed annually from 300 to 1,200.

This is on top of the work Ewin's team is doing to remove any crocodiles that pose a direct threat to humans.

Every time there's a death, it reignites the debate about crocodiles living in close proximity to people.

In the days after the 12-year-old girl was taken last year, the Territory's then leader Eva Lawler made it clear she wouldn't allow the reptiles to outnumber the human population of the NT.

Currently that stands at 250,000, well above the number of wild crocs.

It's a conversation that goes beyond the NT.

Queensland is home to about a quarter of the number of crocs that the Top End of NT has, but there are far more tourists, and more deaths, which means talk of culls sometimes feature in election debates.

Big business

The apex predators may court controversy, but they're also a big draw card for the NT – for tourists but also for fashion brands keen to buy their leather.

Visitors can head to the Adelaide River to watch "croc jumping" - which involves salties being fed bits of meat on the end of a stick if they can leap out of the water for their audience.

"I'm supposed to tell you to put your [life-jackets] on," jokes the head skipper at Spectacular Jumping Croc Cruises, Alex 'Wookie' Williams, as he explains the house rules of the boat.

"The bit I don't have to tell you… [is that] life jackets are pretty useless out here."

For Williams, who's been obsessed with crocs since childhood, there's plenty of opportunity to work alongside them.

"It's boomed over the last 10 years or so," he says of the number of tourists coming to the region.

Farming, which was brought in when hunting was banned, has also become an economic driver.

It's estimated there are now about 150,000 crocodiles in captivity in the NT.

Fashion labels such as Louis Vuitton and Hermès - which sells a Birkin 35 croc handbag for as much as A$800,000 ($500,000; £398,000) - have all invested in the industry.

"The commercial incentives were effectively put in place to help people tolerate crocodiles, because we need a social licence to be able to use wildlife," says Mick Burns, one of the NT's most prominent farmers who works with luxury brands.

His office is in downtown Darwin. Spread across the floor is a massive croc skin. Pinned to the wall of the conference room, there is another skin that spans at least four metres.

Burns is also involved with a ranch in remote Arnhem Land, about 500km (310 miles) east of Darwin. There, he works with Aboriginal rangers to harvest and hatch croc eggs to sell their skins to the luxury goods industry.

One of the area's Traditional Owners, Otto Bulmaniya Campion, who works alongside Burns, says more partnerships like theirs are crucial for ensuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities share in the financial benefits of the industry.

For tens of thousands of years, crocs have played a significant role in Indigenous cultures, shaping their sacred stories, lives and livelihoods.

"My father, all the elders, used to go and harpoon crocodiles, get a skin, and go and trade it for tea, flour, and sugar. [However] there was no money at that time," the Balngarra man says.

"Now, we want to see our own people handling reptiles."

But not everyone is on board with farming as a practice - even if those involved say it helps with conservation.

The concern among animal activists lies in the way the crocs are held in captivity.

Despite being social animals, they are usually confined to individual pens to ensure their skins are flawless - as a scrap between two territorial crocs would almost certainly damage a valuable commodity.

Everyone in Darwin has a story about these formidable creatures, regardless of whether they want to see them hunted in greater numbers or more rigorously preserved.

But the threat they continue to pose is not imagined.

"If you go [swimming in] the Adelaide river next to Darwin, there's a 100% chance you'll be killed," says Prof Webb matter-of-factly.

"The only question is whether it's going to take five minutes or 10 minutes. I don't think you'll ever get to 15 - you'll be torn apart," he adds, pushing up his trouser leg to reveal a huge scar on his calf - evidence of a close encounter with one angry female nearly forty years ago as he was collecting eggs.

He is unapologetic about what he calls the pragmatism of authorities to manage numbers and make money out of crocs along the way - a way of life that, in the near future at least, is here to stay.

"We've done what very few people can do, which is take a very serious predator…and then manage them in such a way that the public is prepared to [tolerate] them.

"You try and get people in Sydney or London or New York to put up with a serious predator - they aren't going to do it."

It was the end of one year and the beginning of another. A time for reflection.

But how much attention did you pay to what's been going on in the world over the past seven days?

Quiz compiled by Ben Fell.

Fancy some more? Try our most recent weekly quiz, have a go at something from the archives, or take on the 2024 Quiz of the Year.

Part one: January to March

Part two: April to June

Part three: July to September

Part four: October to December

Health Secretary Wes Streeting writes in the Guardian that the new commission on adult social care in England will "finally grasp the nettle". He says it will set the country on the path to building a service which "meets the urgent need of our generation".

The Daily Mirror it is "imperative" that the commission succeeds. But the Times points out that the "long-promised" review has been "pushed back again" and won't offer its final proposals until 2028. The paper highlights concerns by care home providers that the government is in danger of producing "yet another report that gathers dust while the sector crumbles".

In its leader column, the Sun calls on the head of the commission, Baroness Casey, to "get on with it" - claiming that "voters are sick of Whitehall lethargy" and want results.

The Daily Mail has analysed official figures which it says show that salaries for NHS managers in England have soared by more than a £1bn.

The paper says the "spiralling bill" reached £2.8bn last year, while "hospitals and ambulances routinely fail to meet performance targets".

But the NHS Confederation tells the paper the health service is not "over-managed", but rather "under-managed" compared with its foreign counterparts.

"Labour blocks grooming gang probe" is the headline in the Daily Telegraph, which leads with the news that the government declined to hold an inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham. Ministers say the local council should lead a review instead.

But the Daily Express warns that "anything less than a fully empowered independent inquiry will fail the survivors and leave more women and girls at risk".

Economists tell the Financial Times it is "almost inevitable" that the government will have to raise taxes again before the next election - fearing that growth this year will be weaker than official forecasts suggest.

They expect it to fall short of the 2% rebound predicted by the Office for Budget Responsibility. One expert tells the paper the chancellor will face a "dawning realisation" that, without increasing income tax or VAT, she "can't make the damn sums work".

The Sun leads with its report that Urfan Sharif - who murdered his 10-year-old daughter Sara - has been attacked at Belmarsh Prison.

A source tells the paper that Sharif was "sliced up badly in his cell" by two inmates using the lid of a tuna can and was "lucky to survive" the attack.

Analysis by the Telegraph reveals that, in the past three years, police have failed to solve a single burglary or theft in 30% of neighbourhoods in England and Wales.

It says that in one part of Westminster - an area with one of the highest crime rates -just four of the nearly 2,000 burglaries or thefts were solved.

A Home Office spokesman tells the paper that victims are being let down, saying that "too often people fear that no one will come when crimes are committed, and nothing will be done".

And the Daily Mirror features an appeal for World War Two veterans to sign up to lead events marking the 80th anniversaries of VE Day and VJ Day.

The Royal British Legion says it may be the last chance to honour them in person. The paper's headline is: "Your country needs you".

Sign up for our morning newsletter and get BBC News in your inbox.

A day of high drama has drawn to an end in South Korea, with investigators suspending an attempt to arrest ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol after a six-hour standoff with the security team outside his home.

"We've determined that the arrest is impossible," said the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), which has been investigating Yoon's short-lived martial law declaration.

"Next steps will be decided after review," the CIO said, adding that Yoon's "refusal of the legal process" is "deeply regrettable".

Yoon's supporters, who have been camped out in front of the presidential residence for days, cheered in song and dance as the suspension was announced. "We won," they chanted.

Investigators have until 6 January to arrest Yoon, before the warrant expires. However they can apply for a new warrant and try to detain him again.

An Inverness man has been able to resume his music career despite suffering a stroke that left him unable to speak or walk - by teaching himself to play the guitar one-handed.

Tony Romaine spent seven months in hospital recovering from a stroke that hit him "out of the blue" two years ago.

The 49-year-old dad of four was found by his wife Lynn lying on their couch unable to move or even cry for help after a clot caused the blood supply to his brain to be interrupted.

However, earlier this year he took to the stage to play his first gig since the incident, with plans for further shows in 2025.

"I couldn't imagine not doing music in my life," says Tony, who was initially unable to even swallow after the stroke happened.

"When people said I probably wouldn't be able to play again, I wasn't going to listen to that. There was probably a part of me that was like 'I'll prove you wrong' but I just had to get back to playing again."

A music lover from childhood, Tony regularly played gigs around Inverness. In 2022 he forced himself to play a couple of shows despite feeling unwell - not realising that within days doctors would be telling his family to prepare for the worst.

"The day after the gig I had a rest day, so I was sitting on the couch and ordering a takeaway.

"By the time the takeaway got there, I was finding it difficult to move around but I just thought I was tired and under the weather. I never thought it would be anything like a stroke.

"By the time everyone was going to bed I was saying I would just stay there a bit longer, and I lay down. Next thing I knew, I couldn't move at all. I went to shout out, and realised I couldn't speak either.

"I was lying there all night, wide awake and thinking 'what the hell is going on?'."

'I might not be here tomorrow'

Tony's wife Lynn came downstairs early the next morning and discovered her husband, quickly phoning for an ambulance.

However, doctors said they could not do anything to break up the clot to his brain stem that caused the stroke.

"My family were told the day I went in that I might not be here tomorrow. I was having trouble breathing and had tubes going in and out of me."

The stroke was so severe that Tony had to be fed through tubes for several weeks while being cared for at at Inverness's Raigmore Hospital, firstly in the ICU and then the stroke unit.

He then moved to the RNI Community Hospital, for a further five months of rehab and physio.

Although the initial targets were focused simply on helping Tony to walk again, he was already thinking about how to play guitar.

"The first thing the physiotherapist said to me was that she just wanted me to sit up. I said to them 'I don't know how to do that', so she helped me, and eventually I managed to sit at the edge of the bed," he says.

"That was the start. But to be honest, I was thinking about music from the first day I was in hospital.

"There was so much stuff going through my head at that point but I was thinking that I'd have to cancel gigs and I was trying to figure out how I was going to do it."

Progress was slow at times, and Tony recalls being told how his brain needed to be "taught" that his leg was still there and could work.

As he continued to make progress with his body, he was able to start trying to play guitar again as well, even though his left hand and arm were out of action.

"I had no idea how I was going to do it," he recalls.

"It's not like I could just go to a guitar teacher, but once I figured out a couple of techniques it became a case of practicing them, which was easier."

The first song he re-learned was Eleanor Rigby by the Beatles, with a stripped-back arrangement to make it easier on him.

He could find inspiration in the likes of Edywn Collins, the former Orange Juice singer who suffered a stroke following a cerebral haemorrhage in 2005 but later returned to performing and making music.

Soon Tony was not just re-learning old songs but working on new material too, and in August the song Standing Stone was released on streaming services.

Another milestone came the same month when he played a gig for the first time in two years, taking the stage at the Rose Street Foundry in Inverness for 30 minutes.

"I was absolutely exhausted," he recalls.

"I stood out of my wheelchair at the end and my legs were shaking. But I'm growing in stamina all the time – I'm hoping to do an hour and a half, maybe split in two 45 minute sets, for my next gigs."

Charity support

Those upcoming gigs will be aimed at helping others, too.

He is hoping fundraise for Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland in the coming months, after they helped him with his rehab after the stroke, while his next show at the Tooth and Claw in Inverness will be to benefit the Oxygen Works charity in the city.

"When I was in hospital I saw people who had given up, and that made me really sad," he explains.

"I understand it, it's a terrible thing to go through but I wouldn't want anyone to give up - I want people to know that you can come through this."

A day of high drama has drawn to an end in South Korea, with investigators suspending an attempt to arrest ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol after a six-hour standoff with the security team outside his home.

"We've determined that the arrest is impossible," said the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), which has been investigating Yoon's short-lived martial law declaration.

"Next steps will be decided after review," the CIO said, adding that Yoon's "refusal of the legal process" is "deeply regrettable".

Yoon's supporters, who have been camped out in front of the presidential residence for days, cheered in song and dance as the suspension was announced. "We won," they chanted.

Investigators have until 6 January to arrest Yoon, before the warrant expires. However they can apply for a new warrant and try to detain him again.

Just hours before the clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve, Jack Bech got on a phone call with his older brother Martin - an avid outdoorsman and former football star mostly known to friends and teammates as "Tiger".

Jack, 22, was in Dallas visiting family members, while Tiger, a 28-year-old former Princeton alumnus who lived in New York, was in New Orleans, getting ready to celebrate the New Year.

"We just thought it was going to be another conversation," he told the BBC. "I was showing him what we were eating, and he was showing us what he was eating."

The two brothers would never speak again.

"I hung up the phone, and that was the last time I ever spoke with him," Jack recalled.

Tiger was among the 14 people killed when an attacker ploughed through a crowd on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

• The rev of an engine and then screams - how revelry turned to mayhem in New Orleans
• Fans flock to Sugar Bowl in New Orleans after deadly New Year's attack

The attacker, 42-year-old army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was killed in a gunfight with police after he drove a pick-up truck into the crowds, according to authorities. Though he posted videos online proclaiming allegiance to the Islamic State group before the attack, FBI officials said they believe he was acting alone.

While the identities of all the victims have not been made public yet, a picture is slowly emerging of a group of mostly young people, many of whom - like Tiger - were Louisiana locals.

Jack - who remembers his brother as his best friend, role model and inspiration - says that the close-knit Bech family will never be the same.

Most of the family is in the town of Lafayette, about 136 miles (218km) away from New Orleans.

"This is something we're going to have to deal with. Every time we wake up, and every time we go to sleep, it's going to be something," he added. "Every holiday, there's going to be an empty seat at the table."

But Tiger said that his brother "wouldn't want us to grieve and mourn". Instead, he has encouraged his family to remember him as "a fighter".

"He'd want us to keep attacking life...he'd want us to go and be there for each other," he said.

"I told my family that instead of seeing him a couple of times a year, he'll be with us every moment," Jack added. "Whenever we're waking up and we're going to sleep and we're walking, when we're at work, doing whatever, he'll be with us."

Among the other victims of the attack in the early morning hours of 1 January was Matthew Tenedorio, an audio-visual technician at New Orleans' Caesars' Superdome.

Tenedorio, who just turned 25 in October, had spent the earlier part of his evening at his brother's home in the town of Slidell, about 35 minutes away from New Orleans.

With him were his father and mother - who just recently recovered from cancer.

His cousin, Christina Bounds, told the BBC that his family "begged" him not to go into New Orleans, fearful of the large crowd and potential dangers.

Despite their pleas, he went, along with two friends. When the news broke, his mother eventually got a hold of one of them.

"They said they were walking down Bourbon, and saw a body fall," she said, noting that they now believe it was a body thrown into the air by the attacker's truck.

Amid screams and gunshots, Tenedorio was separated from his friends.

His family says he was shot, and believe he was killed during the exchange of gunfire between the attacker and police officers on Bourbon Street.

The BBC is unable to independently verify this claim.

According to Ms Bounds, the family's tragedy has been made more painful by the slow, nearly non-existent trickle of communications they've had with local authorities.

"We couldn't get any information when my aunt [Tenedorio's mother, Cathy] showed up at the hospital," she said. "There has been no information from doctors, hospitals, or cops. Nobody."

"They have zero information, and that's the part that's pissing everybody off. We don't even know what happened," Bounds added. "Was he carried out by the EMS? Was he in an ambulance? Did he die instantly?"

These answers, she added, would "help people accept" what happened.

"But now it's like total shock," she added. "It's not registering."

The family has started a GoFundMe page to gather funds for Tenedorio's funeral expenses - which Ms Bounds said have been made difficult by his mother's significant medical bills during her cancer diagnosis.

Another cousin of Tenedorio's, Zach Colgan, remembers him as a "goofball" who was quick to make a joke, cared deeply about animals and was an avid storyteller.

"He cared. He was definitely a people person. A happy-go-lucky guy," Mr Colgan told the BBC. "It's sad that a terrorist attack took him...no family should ever have to bury their son, especially for something so senseless."

Mr Colgan, who has experience working with law enforcement in Louisiana, says he believes officers have done the best they can in an extremely hectic casualty situation.

"I know it's chaotic. But part of closure is getting answers. I know my aunt and uncle weren't able to get much besides 'yes - Matthew was killed'," he said.

"It'd be nice to know a little bit more," Mr Colgan added. ""If it was my kid, I'd want to know."

Even as his family continues to search for answers, Mr Colgan says he hopes that the government and public's focus continues to be on the victims, rather than on law enforcement's response or what else could have been done to prevent the attack.

"I want every single one of them to be remembered," he said. "They didn't deserve this. No one deserves this."

Venezuela's government has offered a $100,000 (£81,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of the opposition's exiled presidential candidate Edmundo González.

He fled the country in September and was granted political asylum in Spain after Venezuela's authorities ordered his arrest, accusing González of conspiracy and of forging documents.

González had vowed to return to Venezuela before President Nicolás Maduro's inauguration next Friday, accusing the government of rigging the vote.

Shortly after the reward was announced, González said he was travelling to Argentina to begin a tour of Latin America, where he will meet fierce Maduro critic President Javier Milei on Saturday.

The United Nations' Human Rights Committee has ordered Venezuela "to refrain from destroying" the voting tallies from the presidential election in July 2024.

The voting tallies - a detailed official breakdown of the votes from each polling station - have been at the centre of the dispute over who won the election.

The government-aligned National Electoral Council (CNE) declared the incumbent, Maduro, the winner but failed to provide the voting tallies to back up its claim.

The opposition, which with the help of accredited election witnesses collected and published more than 80% of the voting tallies, says these prove that its candidate, González, was the overwhelming winner.

González was not well known in Venezuela when he registered as a candidate for the country's presidential election back in March.

He had never run for public office before and was not even widely known in opposition circles.

But months after he decided to run for the top office, the low-key former diplomat overtook Maduro in the opinion polls.

Venezuela has seen divisions between government and opposition supporters get ever deeper over the past decade or so.

González's reconciliatory tone during the presidential campaign was in stark contrast to that of Maduro, who warned of a "bloodbath" should González win.

The 2018 re-election of Maduro was widely dismissed as neither free nor fair.

Much of the UK could be set for three days of snow as temperatures plunge across the country.

A Met Office yellow warning for snow has been issued for all of England and Wales and parts of Scotland this weekend, with icy conditions forecast to continue into Monday.

It means there is a risk of rural communities being cut off, schools being closed and power cuts, as well as widespread travel disruption.

The wintry conditions will hit days after much of the UK was lashed by strong winds and heavy rain, which led to widespread flooding across the north-west of England.

The snow warning starts at noon on Saturday until 09:00 GMT on Monday and covers all regions of England apart from the South West, the majority of Wales and parts of southern Scotland.

About 5cm of snow is expected across the Midlands, Wales and northern England over the weekend, with as much as 20-30cm over high ground in Wales and the Pennines. With strong winds, some drifting may also be possible.

Parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland may also see some disruptive snow. In southern England any snow is likely to turn back to rain as milder air temporarily arrives.

Temperatures will begin to fall overnight on Wednesday, with parts of the country warned to expect icy conditions on Thursday morning and some snow expected in Scotland.

It will feel increasingly bitter as the Arctic air reaches all areas of the UK by Thursday, with a mix of sunny spells and wintry showers, paving the way for widespread snowfall across the weekend.

BBC Weather lead presenter Ben Rich warned that snow is notoriously hard to forecast, and the warning will likely be modified closer to the time as confidence in in the data behind it grows.

"With just a small change in temperature or the track of the low pressure can mean an area gets rain or sleet instead of snow," he said.

The warnings come after many Britons saw their New Year's celebrations accompanied by heavy rain and extensive flooding, including in Greater Manchester where a major incident was declared on New Year's Day.

Places affected include Bolton, Didsbury, South Manchester, Harpurhey, north Manchester, Stalybridge, Stockport and Wigan.

In Cheshire, the banks of the Bridgewater Canal collapsed with water pouring into surrounding fields at Little Bollington, prompting road closures and property evacuations.

Around 90mm of rain has fallen widely across north west England over the last 24 hours with over 100mm recorded on some hills in north Wales and Cumbria.

And in London, the New Year's Day parade suffered a short delay due to the high winds and a brief squall of torrential rain in the capital.

You can keep up to date with BBC Weather forecasts online and on the app.